EmilioGarcia.nethttps://emiliogarcia.net
You're bored and I'm boring.Sun, 29 Dec 2019 01:21:08 +0000en-US
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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1ANAP3002P – Aivo Network – Wireless Access Pointhttps://emiliogarcia.net/home/anap3002p-aivo-network-wireless-access-point/
Sun, 29 Dec 2019 01:21:08 +0000https://emiliogarcia.net/?p=15In May of 2019 my wife and I were able to purchase our first home. The pipes, outlets, roof, and just about everything was checked prior to purchasing. Obviously, wifi capability was not one of those things we were able to check.

Upon moving in, we immediately found out that our current wifi setup was going to be insufficient and we needed something else. In came the ANAP3002P. The Aivo ANAP3002P access point allowed us to broadcast wifi from a more central location while still allowing me to keep the rest of the network in one location.

Contents –

1 – ANACP3002P

1 – Cat5e Ethernet Cable

1 – Poe Power Adapter

1 – Power Cord

3 – Sets of Screws and Anchors

1 – Quick Reference Guide

Installation –

Before you start hammering in anchors and drilling in your screws you’re going to want to know how you will power the access point. The first way of powering the access point is using the supplied PoE Power Adaptor / Power Cord and the second is strictly using Power Over Ethernet. Before you install please note… you will need to run a cat5e or cat6 cable to the location where you plan on placing your new access point ( unless you will be placing it broadcasting from your router ). After you find your location, hammer in 3 anchors, and screw in 3 screws the installation is basically complete ( don’t forget to connect your Ethernet cable to the LAN port ) .

Set an IP Address on your regular home network ( This will assign a static IP to your access point. If you are installing this on a normal home network there is a good chance that your IP range is 192.168.1.XX where XX is the variable number for the devices. Set this to any number above 70 so there are no conflicting connecting devices)

Set a Subnet Mask (usually 255.255.255.0)

Set SSID ( What wireless devices will see when they need to connect to the internet)

Set a Password for this network

Bandwith set to auto

Country ( set to your country )

Channel set to auto

Finish

This will change the IP on your access point from 192.168.10.1 to whatever you set, and using the credentials you set. Disconnect the access point from your computer and connect it to any available port on your router ( or switch ). Restart your computer.

After restart head on over to the ip you set your access point to and login. Default username and password is admin. After logging go to System > Change Password > and create a new password for your admin user ( DO NOT LEAVE THE PASSWORD AS ADMIN )

Thoughts?

In terms of deployment and installation this was one of the easier things to add to my home network. I connected mine using a poe switch on my rack, did the minimal setup and viola! The major problem I was having in the house was not getting a good wifi signal in the bathroom ( dont judge me! ). This solved that problem and gave me phenomenal coverage throughout the entire property (aprox 10k sqft). If i were to have any quarrels with the unit it would be that it only broadcasts 2.4mhz( longer range but shorter bandwidth ). If download speeds eventually become a problem I might upgrade to a dual band access point and take advantage of 5 band.

]]>Blog 2 – Make an Extra 5k in 2019https://emiliogarcia.net/business/blog-2-make-an-extra-5k-in-2019/
https://emiliogarcia.net/business/blog-2-make-an-extra-5k-in-2019/#respondMon, 07 Jan 2019 02:47:30 +0000https://www.deein.net/?p=232Today is January 6, 2019 and it’s the second day in 2019 that I’ve had some time to work on the store. I wanted to update anyone who is reading where I’m currently at and what I’ve been up to.

Store Stats

The store currently has 21 listings ( or designs ) that were done today. Currently have items in the following categories -Family, Hobbies, Pets, Professions, and Adult/Life . To drive traffic to the store I have opted into etsy advertisement . My current cost per click ( or how much I am paying per visitor) is 15 cents with a maximum daily budget of 2 dollars.

Current advertisement stats as of 9:29 PM

My total traffic stats for the day are:

We have also had a total of 4 items “liked ” ( Favorited )

Things I need to still do

Add Product: I think the obvious of them all is to keep on adding product. I’m not a huge proponent of making the PERFECT item and striking it rich. The perfect item may or may not come in 2019… Its all about numbers for me for this store. I would like to ideally have 100 items on this store by the end of the month ( honestly earlier ).

Fix Descriptions: In my haste to put the items up I was not able to do each and every listing 100% perfect. Although I don’t believe in perfection there are some things that just need to be done. Having a good item description or something for the customer to relate to is an absolute must.

Start a mailing list: Being able to engage customers a second, third, and fourth time is crucial to the success of this store. Having a mailing list will give me the ability to contact customers over and over again without having to invest additional funds.

Add additional pictures: Gear bubble does give you a mock up of your design but I’ve noticed that customers sometimes do browse through additional ones. I need to include an additional picture for sizing (so customers can see the different sizes of product I offer ), and a picture with all of my social media ( right now its just instagram and its empty ).

Shop Policies: This is another one of those absolute must. I need to put information on returns / lead times / also details on the store ( like work space pictures ) etc. On Etsy this seems to be important.

Thoughts on today

Considering today is the first “real” day of having product on the store I think its been a huge success. I wasn’t planning on having likes on any items and or visitors. Since this isn’t really a get rich quick scheme I don’t expect to get sales for a couple of weeks.

]]>https://emiliogarcia.net/business/blog-2-make-an-extra-5k-in-2019/feed/0The Start Of A New Adventure – 2019https://emiliogarcia.net/business/the-start-of-a-new-adventure-2019/
https://emiliogarcia.net/business/the-start-of-a-new-adventure-2019/#respondThu, 03 Jan 2019 06:24:43 +0000https://www.deein.net/?p=224In 2018, we started our second online store. In roughly 7 months my second store had somewhere in the range of 25k total sales. At the top of my new years resolution is to add another 5k to our yearly profits. While adding another 5k to our existing store is in fact difficult, its definitively not out of the realm of possibilities. Whats the fun in that? With that being said I am going to completely start a new store from the ground up and document as much as possible along the way. The goal is to somehow motivate and show you the processes I go through while I try to take a store from 0 to hopefully at least an extra 5k a year ( because who couldn’t use an extra 5k a year?).

I would like to add that I will be all over the place with this blog series. I will post things that I am doing also explanations on what I am doing / what you could do.

List of things I need to do:

Select the name of the store. Try getting one where the domain and Instagram are available.

Buy Domain Name.Important! – .com if at all possible. Privacy Protection is a MUST.

Selecting a niche:

Targeting a niche should be your primary focus. Try to make and or sell products that are specific to a particular person or group of people. You’re going to want to target very loyal and borderline obsessive people within their hobby or niche. The best way to select the niche is to find something you’re passionate about. When you’re apart of the select few, you understand the terminology and can understand what is good and not.

If you decide to start your own store and cant find a niche you’re passionate about the best thing to do is start doing research! A quick google search for popular hobbies shows:

Going over the list there are some that stand out to me. Knitting, Exercise, Sewing, Hunting, Dance, and Soccer. Because what I try to sell I try to personalize I always look for niches or markets that tend to buy personalized items. I also tend to look for niches that might not have a lot of personalized items made for.

Whats NEXT?

So you have selected your niche…. Now what the heck are you going to sell? If you plan on going the personalization route, there are some defacto items you can do to start getting your foot in the door. Hats, Bags, and T-shirts are good ways to start getting into selling for these markets. If you have the capital, you could buy the machinery make the products yourself.

Make it yourself: The advantages of making your own product is the absolute full control of the entire process. The downside is that you have to do the entire process. From creating the item to shipment. Its all on you.

Print on demand: You create the design, drive traffic to your store, once the customer purchases the design you have the company ( IE: Printful) create the final product and ship it to the customer. This normally tends to be less margins…. But after the design is made you just do customer service and collect a paycheck.

Disclaimer: This is my journey to make another 5k a year. I might not make it and I might lose out on all the money I invest. Online stores do take a lot of time at the start and progressively go down a little. This will never be a 100% passive way to gain money. You will at some point or another have to handle customer service and in some cases all of the production details.

]]>https://emiliogarcia.net/business/the-start-of-a-new-adventure-2019/feed/05 Things I’m Doing To Increase Etsy Saleshttps://emiliogarcia.net/business/5-things-im-doing-to-increase-etsy-sales/
https://emiliogarcia.net/business/5-things-im-doing-to-increase-etsy-sales/#respondMon, 17 Sep 2018 05:30:26 +0000https://www.deein.net/?p=179My second store, ubermugs, has been open for a couple of months. While its doing substantially better in its first months than our first store, its nowhere near where it could be. I have taken my experiences from Drink Everyday and have added a few new things. With that being said, these are the 5 things that I’m Doing to Increase Etsy Sales.

Customer Service –

While this is a generic term and one of the pillars of good sales let me just explain myself here. I’ve come to notice that potential customers tend to make rash decisions. If a customer sends you a request, and you do not respond instantly, they might be completely off Etsy by the time you respond. I unfortunately do not have any metrics to prove what I’m about to say so take it with a grain of salt. If you’re able to respond to the customer while they are actively browsing your store or Etsy, it will increase your chancing at closing the deal. Some of my biggest deals were closed by having a quick response to answer the customer. Almost always, I receive a “Thank you for your quick response”. If you have not already downloaded the etsy sellers app you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Being prepared –

Once again one of those generic and obvious things one should do. Hear me out… I primarily sell coffee mugs on UBERMUGS. With that being said I do have some niche designs that can target holidays. Its imperative to be sure you’re setting up your store WELL BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS. At the time of posting it is September 17,2018. Right now I have the retail mentality and I am already posting and giving Halloween focus. Etsy themselves say that Halloween is one of the most important holidays of the year. If you target specific days its imperative that you pay attention to the Key Shopping Dates tab in your account. Marketing > Key Shopping Dates.

Halloween is a big deal on Etsy: in recent years, more people searched Etsy for “Halloween” than “Mother’s Day,” or “Father’s Day.”

Halloween shopping starts in late September, so stock your shop with Halloween items and consider starting discounts up before then.

Establishing a Social Presence –

I absolutely hate the rigors of actively maintaining a social media account. Back in my day, we had to walk 15 miles in the snow to update our friends! With having a full time job, being a full time parent, being a part time enrapture, it leaves very little time to do anything else. It’s extremely difficult to remember to post daily to social media and much less the defacto requirement of at least 2 times. I have recently signed up with BUFFER to alleviate some of the headaches. Paying for the single user “license” grants me the ability to manage up to 10 social media accounts and schedule up to 100 posts in advanced. Not only does this grant me the freedom of not having to “post every day”. It gives me the freedom of queuing all of my posts at my own leisure.

To further touch on this subject I’ve also started 2 niche Instagram accounts. I’ve been able to actively grow my user base from 0 to over 1000 followers targeted specifically at my niche. As of right now, I have not used any of the accounts to promote any items and will not do so until it’s closer to Christmas. I would like for my accounts to focus and grow rather than annoy and attack.

Cross-Selling –

If you have a car you need gas and tires. If you’re selling hamburgers you should also consider selling fries and a drink. Cross selling is something I’m exposed to every single time I’ve purchased online. With that being said its absurd I never thought about trying to do the same. There have been countless amounts of times where I’ve gone out to purchase an Item and I ended up following the suggestions of some stupid algorithm.

For a brief period of time we sold only wine glasses. While they sold great, I couldn’t help but think we were losing out to people who might want the design on a coffee mug. As our sales grew, money came in, I decided to start the mug side of our business. The exact same designs we were already selling on wine glasses started selling on Coffee Mugs. Just recently, I decided to add similar items that are in the general vicinity of whatever we’re selling. ie: stickers ( Just more opportunities )

Managing my Time –

Good and bad days are all around! I’ve been able to use some tools to help do some of the boring and annoying things. These are the following tips I can give you to manage time:

Set a schedule – If you only have 20 minutes a day make those the most productive. Take the first 20 minutes on Monday ( or whenever ) to plan out the rest of the week.

Automate the tasks you hate the most – I hate social media. I use Buffer to schedule posts. Captivate to add people on social media. Unfollow to remove dead accounts I’m following

]]>https://emiliogarcia.net/business/5-things-im-doing-to-increase-etsy-sales/feed/0Upgrading from Cricut to Graphtec CE6000-60 Plushttps://emiliogarcia.net/business/upgrading-from-cricut-to-graphtec-ce6000-60-plus/
https://emiliogarcia.net/business/upgrading-from-cricut-to-graphtec-ce6000-60-plus/#respondSat, 08 Sep 2018 17:48:50 +0000https://www.deein.net/?p=169The decision to upgrade from our tried and true Cricut was one with much hesitancy. Our workhouse has been faithfully working for us for the past year flawlessly! Thousands of orders, thousands of sales, and always ready for action is how I would best describe our Cricut. However, with that being said there were some instances where our best friend was giving us some headaches.

The problem with the Cricut in general for us was the online software. Having to be forced to be on the Cricut Design Space 100% of the time really did annoy my wife and I. The limited cutting lengths also left a lot to be desired. Granted, this printer is not made for commercial use and more of a craft based hobby, it could have been made more with a longer out feed. The final nail in the coffin was the stepper motor. While reliable, it just took way too long if we had to cut many pieces. Don’t get me wrong, I love our Cricut, we just needed more.

Graphtec CE6000-60 Plus

Enter the Graphtec CE6000-60 Plus. This behemoth of a machine gives you up to a 24 inch cutting surface ( extra 12 inches over Cricut ). Has the ability for variable cutting speed, passes, cutting patterns, and more. While the critic is catered to more of a hobbyist this is as professional as they come.

Software: The unit itself comes with its own proprietary vector software called Graphtec Pro Studio. I haven’t had much time to use it and become familiar with it but it does seem faster than using the Design Studio. Another alternative to using their software would be to install the drivers for Illustrator. So far I’ve found that using their pro studio seems to be just fine.

Footprint: Our home business consists of us working where the dining room table should be. We have since moved the table out and made this our permanent business location. With that being said this monster is quite large compared to the Cricut. We had the space to fit it but unless you have an area dedicated to it you might want to reconsider.

Cost: Apparently Graphtec has some exporters which will get an export pricing. After speaking to a representative I was told that international models do not have the same standard warranty as those sold by domestic sales. The the prices given to me by exporters ranged from 1500 – 1650 where their domestic counterpart was 1715 – 1795.

Why did we buy a Graphtec CE6000-60 plus? I’m writing this post at the start of September. Since we started our store pretty much during Christmas of 2017 we can see how terrible it is to have to wait on a machine. We were getting roughly 25+ orders or more a day and it was causing us a lot of stress and many sleepless nights. In hopes of picking up production ( and not having to be next to the machine ) we went ahead with the more professional unit. This 1795 dollar investment should hopefully help us make that and more this coming Christmas.

]]>https://emiliogarcia.net/business/upgrading-from-cricut-to-graphtec-ce6000-60-plus/feed/0Ulcerative Colitis – Colons gone wild!https://emiliogarcia.net/family/ulcerative-colitis-colons-gone-wild/
https://emiliogarcia.net/family/ulcerative-colitis-colons-gone-wild/#respondFri, 17 Aug 2018 05:45:54 +0000https://www.deein.net/?p=161My wife, unfortunately, has been diagnosed with this terrible disease known as Ulcerative Colitis. UC fort short is a described as “A chronic, inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation in the digestive tract”. Just to keep it short and simple its basically ulcers in her large intestine. Symptoms for this disease include rectal bleeding, bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and pain.

Something is wrong here.

For about a year and a half my wife has been having slight issues going to the rest room. We always attributed her issues with what our local doctors thought it would be (by local doctors I mean our parents). “Dont worry! It’s just stress”, “Dont worry! It could be hemorrhoids”, “Dont Worry” , “Dont Worry”. At what point do we worry?

A few months after the soft stool, blood, pains, and general discomfort I recommended my wife go see a gastroenterologist. Basically a stomach doctor. Now if you thought getting an appointment to a regular physician was tough this is tough times 100. Not only did it take months in order to see the specialist they tend to waste your first visit on garbage. After waiting 2 1/2 months to hopefully find a solution to the problem we were met with heart break. The machine, as the doctor put it, was damaged and there were no replacements available. How is it that in 2018 there is a medical machine can broken and broken for 2 months? Months passed and my wife learned to fight through the pain and discomfort and she put the follow up on the back burner.

2 Months prior to me posting this my wife was forced to schedule an appointment with her gastro by myself. I was sleeping in our bed, and she woke up in the middle of the night as she normally does. This time around she had such a discharge that it actually woke me up. I dont know if I was mad that it woke me up, or that she never went back to the doctor. But I was mad! I called her mother without her noticing and I enlisted her in my evil plan to somehow sucker my wife into getting an appointment. A few phone calls later we were able to sucker my wife into getting further tests done.

1 Camera in the colon is worth 2 in the bush?

Credit – http://royalthighness.com

Leading up to the colonoscopy my wife had to undergo a rectal purge and clear out her system. She was given a laxative like solution which made her already soft stool even worse. Oh and you cannot eat or drink anything with a red tint to it. Sorry red jello but you’re out!

The actual procedure day consisted of visiting the outpatient center, getting put under, having the doctor stick things into her colon, and her waking up as if she were beat up. Upon coming to from her deep slumber she informed me that she was Diagnosed with UC. Along with the diagnosis she would also have to start a regimen of 8 daily pills ( 4 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon) as well as a daily enema. Maybe, just maybe, if this was caught earlier she might have not even needed to take any pills.

Colonoscopies – 2 for 1 specials all month long!

If you’re suffering from any of these symptoms, or any for that matter, please go get checked out. Being cheap and not spending the 50 – 70 dollars to see a specialist is just not worth a lifetime of sorrow. Granted, my wife does have to take 8 pills and do additional work but shes not dead. There are people in far worse positions than she is but nobody wants to take pills forever.

]]>https://emiliogarcia.net/family/ulcerative-colitis-colons-gone-wild/feed/0Keto Recipe – Almond Flour Crust Pizzahttps://emiliogarcia.net/keto/keto-recipe-almond-flour-crust-pizza/
https://emiliogarcia.net/keto/keto-recipe-almond-flour-crust-pizza/#respondWed, 08 Aug 2018 04:15:50 +0000https://www.deein.net/?p=152This recipe all of a sudden manifested itself when my wife was mentioning something along the lines of wanting to eat pizza. Being on Keto limits what I’m allowed to eat and not. I’ve made Keto crackers with almond flour quite a few times and they came out great. The Idea behind this is wanting to eat something different, be something easy to make, and be something new. Taste tests from my young children, mother, and wife all came back with great feedback ( it was tasty).

Only thing I would change to this would be to chiffonade the basil and add it a couple of minutes before the timer ends on the last oven placement ( just so it doesnt wilt as much).

Instructions

Prep Work / Making the Crust:

Add 1 Large Egg into mixture, continue to turn until it becomes a doughy texture.

Add 1 cup of Mozzarella Cheese to doughy mixture and combine the two.

Spread combined mixture onto parchment paper and roll into pizza like shape. Don't spread the mixture too thing or else it will be susceptible to burn.

Baking the pizza

Pre-heat oven to 350

Place pre-mixed / rolled mixture in the oven. Wait 10 MINUTES

Spread sauce on top of pizza, Add 1/2 cup of Mozzarella cheese that was left over as well as the Parmesan on top. Spread evenly.

Place pizza back in the oven for 10 minutes.

At the 10 minute mark add basil and leave for 5 minutes

Eat pizza!

]]>https://emiliogarcia.net/keto/keto-recipe-almond-flour-crust-pizza/feed/0Keto Recipe – Reece’s Fat Bombhttps://emiliogarcia.net/keto/keto-recipe-reeces-fat-bomb/
https://emiliogarcia.net/keto/keto-recipe-reeces-fat-bomb/#respondSat, 04 Aug 2018 03:48:28 +0000https://www.deein.net/?p=143Desserts are something that are very difficult to have while on a diet. These fat bombs will give you a huge intake of fat while remaining true to the Ketogenic Diet. While this might not be the most optimally Keto desert it definitely is something that helps me remain on track. I would like to also add that I do in fact save my bank of carbs for snacks.

]]>https://emiliogarcia.net/keto/keto-recipe-reeces-fat-bomb/feed/0Top 5 Things A Ketogenic Diet Newbie Needshttps://emiliogarcia.net/keto/top-5-things-a-ketogenic-diet-newbie-needs/
https://emiliogarcia.net/keto/top-5-things-a-ketogenic-diet-newbie-needs/#respondThu, 19 Jul 2018 03:10:06 +0000https://www.deein.net/?p=115I am what I would call a career fat person. For as long as I remember I’ve always been the overweight kid. Living in a relatively poor family my mother taught me that having food was precious and not something that could be thrown away because you didn’t “like eating it”. My mothers sole rule about food when I was growing up was if it was served you have to eat it. Leaving the plate 90% clean was never an option. It was either 100% clean or you were in the slammer.

I started Keto about 3 months ago at the heaviest I’ve ever been. Although I am 5 feet 4 inches tall, I am by no means a small boy. I started my journey weighing in at the morbidly obese weight of 251 lbs. Since then, I’ve lost over 40lbs, and have motivated over 5 friends into starting the diet. With that being said these are the top 5 things I believe you need in order to make your keto journey a success.

Coconut Oil – Coconut oil is a quick and easy way to get some fat into your food. The coconut oil I’ve found has been best is Trader Joe’s Coconut Oil (16oz). Coming in at 14g of total fat per serving (1 table spoon) this makes it a no-brainer. This tends to be one of the least “coconut tasting” oil’s I’ve encountered. There is also no noticeable coconut oil aroma associated with this either.

Ketone Test Strips – Once you’ve been on ketosis for a while you’re able to tell if you’re within the “zone” or not. If you’re reading this article then chances are you still haven’t started or are very new to the diet. These test strips test for Ketones which is a direct indicator if your body is in Ketosis.

I’ve found that testing your sample is best done in the morning before you add anything to your system. You provide the sample (urine) , place the test strip, wait 30 seconds, compare to the color coded chart. The basic gist of it is the darker the better. You might not achieve complete darkness for the entirety of your stay on Keto but you will get great results on the second to last color as well. This is not the best way to test for ketones as there are digital ketone testers but this will work!

Crystal Light – I have suffered from drinking an excessive amount of calories most of my life. Coke (pop for you southerners), Gatorade, Orange Juice, and Apple Juice have been my achilles heel! I have found that having a substitute, although not optimal, can help promote staying on track.

I have quite a few of these packets at work, home, and even some in the car ( in case of emergencies ). Not only have they helped me curb my desire for a sweet drink, they have also have been used as a frozen Popsicle alternative. Tons of flavor for only a handful of calories ( per serving ) .

Youtube – The hard part of doing keto is that there aren’t very many Keto friendly places or prepared foods. The way I’ve prepared my friends is to tell them to assume you cannot buy anything made at a store. You cant just go to the “Keto” friendly isle and pick up things ready to eat.

If you’re addicted to bread and rice, like me, this diet can be a little difficult. I’ve been programmed since very young that 90% of foods include rice and the remaining 10% include bread. Youtube is the perfect vessel to find foods, recipes, and ideas other people are coming up with. 2 Channels that I find ideas from and recommend are Keto Connect and Headbangers Kitchen.

MyFitnessPal – Available for both iOS and Android platforms this app helps you keep yourself in line. As long as you upload and enter your data this app can track your macro’s and let you know how much you’re actually ingesting. Do not skimp on tracking your macro’s! Do not forget that an over abundance of carbs or sugar can kick you out of the highly coveted Ketosis.

]]>https://emiliogarcia.net/keto/top-5-things-a-ketogenic-diet-newbie-needs/feed/05 Must Have Items for Shipping Merchandisehttps://emiliogarcia.net/business/5-must-have-items-for-shipping-merchandise/
https://emiliogarcia.net/business/5-must-have-items-for-shipping-merchandise/#respondMon, 25 Jun 2018 04:34:19 +0000https://www.deein.net/?p=93Finding our what you need to handle shipments is an ongoing process that doesn’t need to be fully tackled right away. Some items are absolutely required and some just offer comfort / speed increases.

1. Weight Scale – The size of the products you’re selling will determine the scale you’re going to use. For our Etsy stores, ubermugs and Drink Everyday we use the Ozeri Pro II. Our home business consists of selling customized wine glasses and coffee mugs that tend to not weigh over 14 ounces ( with box and packing ). The small footprint and ability to measure minute changes makes this perfect for our use. Being able to accurately measure the weight of your items also lets you give your customers their exact shipping cost with no added surprises.

2. Printer – Depending on the size of your store, and frequency of shipments, investing into a laser printer might be a good option. The printer we started using is a Ricoh C250 laser printer. The price point of the printer tends to be on the lower end of the spectrum and it gives us the versatility to print in color (if need be) and print our shipping labels.

A great alternative to buying a standard printer would be a thermal printer. Thermal printers work by applying heat onto specialty label paper which then exposes the content you printed. The printers themselves are also a tad bit expensive if you compare them to standard home printers. The thermal printer we use is the Dymo LabelWriter 4XL, which lets us print on 4 x 6 paper ( perfect for shipping labels). The downside to using these printers however is the paper itself. Original (OEM) paper can be quite expensive in the long run so we went with an aftermarket source (linked below). The speed at which we can produce and apply shipping labels to our orders makes this a no brainier. It’s literally print, peel, stick, ship.

3. Bubble Wrap and Void Fill – A pivotal part of shipping process is making sure that it makes it in the same condition you sent it in. Leaving empty spaces in a box makes the boxes less dense and more susceptible to caving in. Make sure you bubble wrap your items whenever applicable and use void fill to help fill up the rest.

TIP: You can use newspaper and easily shred it into strips to use it as void fill.

Bubble Cushioning Wrap 175′ – This comes perforated every 12 inches. If you’re sending small to medium items make sure you get something similar.

4. Tape (and TapeGun) – From securely closing your boxes to sealing your shipping label ( if done on a standard printer) this is an item you must have. While the tape gun is an option and not a requirement its ease of use and increased speed make this essential for your small business. If you’re shipping items under 5 lbs then the quality of the tape inst really an issue. If your store / shop / business tends to send items a little heavier than that then consider investing into better quality tape.

5. Boxes – By boxes I don’t mean just any ole box either. A dangerous thing to avoid when shipping merchandise is both the over-sized and undersized box. Finding the right box for the items you are shipping is imperative to the success of your business. The first thing to get hit before your item is always the box!

We ship our wine glasses and ceramic coffee mugs in single corrugated boxes that measure 6(L) X 6(W) X 6(H). Single Corrugated means one inner wafer like cardboard sandwiched bettween 2 flat sides. Depending on the value of your items this may or may not be enough!

TIP: If you’re sending items via USPS priority sign up for a USPS account. There is a supplies section where you can order boxes in different sizes free of charge. However they must be used solely for shipping items using PRIORITY and with USPS.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Clicking some of the links on this post will grant a commission sale which helps keep the site afloat.